Sheffield engineering firm secures £9 million Russian contracts

Sheffield’s Forgemasters has secured contracts with Russian companies worth more than £9 million.

The orders are from Russian steel producing giants, Severstal and Magnitogorsk Iron and Steel Works (MMK) and the rolls will be used in the production of steel for the Automotive industry.

Securing the orders comes in succession to a German castings order of £12 million awarded to Sheffield Forgemasters in September 2014 and builds on decades of trade between the South Yorkshire engineering specialist and Russia.

Dr Steve Price, sales director at Sheffield Forgemasters, said: “Winning these contracts is a great coup for Sheffield Forgemasters and comes after several years of difficult trading conditions in the global forgings and castings industry, which is still having a negative effect for many businesses.

“We are the world’s largest supplier of steel rolls into Russia and it is a great testament to our sales team here, our Russian agent, Brightwell, and the strength of our manufacturing excellence that both Severstal and MMK continue to place high value orders here in the UK.”

“We will be supplying more than 170 rolls in total and the contracts will provide a healthy amount of work for our heavy forge, machine shops and work rolls departments which are all based at Brightside Lane in Sheffield.

“Following on from our recent £12m contract wins with the German SMS group to provide some of the largest castings that we have ever been asked to manufacture, the Russian rolls orders positions us well for the 2014/2015 financial year but it would be too early to say whether this is indicative of any upturn in the global economic slump.”